Randall Road Boondoggle

Two months ago, I wrote that McHenry County voted to waste $115 million to “fix” 3½ miles of Randall Road.

I am writing today to apologize and admit I was wrong. It wants to spend $135 million.

The whole project is based on ludicrous population projections that McHenry County population is going to increase 3 percent a year between 2020 and 2030. There are only two problems with that projection.

First, that is more than four times the rate the U.S. Census Bureau says population is likely to increase for the nation as a whole. But maybe you’re thinking McHenry County is going to buck the national trend, right?

You would be correct. We are bucking the trend. McHenry County population actually has been going down since at least 2010 while the rest of the country goes up.

And that is according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

In other words, the county isn’t off a little bit on their projection, they can’t even get the arithmetic sign right. Kids, it’s a minus sign, not a plus sign.

So, Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer, if you don’t mind paying $135 million for a gold-plated solution to a nonexistent problem, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

But if wasting $1,200 of your tax money – $1,200 for every single household in McHenry County – if that offends you, then contact your County Board members and let them know what you think.